1. What a wild night for the Class A Black Hills Conference.
Fort Cherry scores 71, believed to be a school record. Clairton puts up 55. Serra Catholic totals 51 and Bentworth finishes with 50.
The winning teams averaged 56.8 points. Insane.
2. If things maintain, Beth-Center, Canon-McMillan, Fort Cherry and either Monessen or Carmichaels will host a home playoff game. That's a step up from last year when only Fort Cherry and Monessen played host in the opening round.
3. If Chartiers Valley loses all-purpose player Santino Coury for the season, Ringgold could possibly sneak into second place in the Big Seven Conference. Third place seems more likely, but it is a possibility.
4. Charleroi is much better than its 2-5 record. The Cougars have a stout defense, but one that wears down due to low numbers and the offenses trouble in putting up points.
Charleroi gets good production from the power-I and freshman tailback Quinten Briggs is a name to remember - expect him to join cousin Darrell Harding on the WPIAL's 4,000-yard career rushing list barring injury. The Cougars passing game, however, is unable to keep the opponent from being honest defensively.
5. Nice character win for Canon-McMillan. Trailing to Mt. Lebanon, the Big Macs do what they do best - run Mike Hull and Chad Hagan.
Ditto for Trinity.
When I heard the PA at McGuffey announce Trinity trailed West Mifflin 13-6 during the second quarter, I thought the Hillers season was in jeopardy. As the Varsity Letters stated before, Trinity always finds way to win after a loss.
6. In three games since his return, Joby Lapkowicz has thrown for 10 touchdowns. That's a decade's worth of touchdown passes for some schools.
7. If you haven't already, check out Chris Dugan's column about Avella football in today's Observer-Reporter. A very good read.
Click here.
8. The Varsity Letters believes McGuffey will break its 14-year playoff drought this year.
9. The Avella football team deservedly is getting attention for sticking through a trying season. Maybe it's time to give the kids at Wash High some credit as well. The Prexies are low in numbers and low on wins. Last night's 67-8 loss at Jeannette was the worst in school history.
Seems so weird to type that sentence considering how strong the High has been over the years.
14 comments:
I have a question for the Ringgold fans...would it be fair to say that Belle Vernon was "REALLY TAKING IT TO THE RAMS FOR 2 QUARTERS" on Friday night because they were ahead 6-0 at half time? (It would have been by more too if BVA doesn't fumble a pitch inside the Ringgold one yard line.) And because of that STRONG first half showing by BVA - do you think they would beat Ringgold if they were lucky enough to meet up again in the post season, even though the Rams won by 20 points? I was just wondering. :)
i dont know how you consider it "taking it to Ringgold" when Bekavac had 76 yards in the first half, if my math is correct, that would be a 152 yard game, which by any means is not taking it to a team if one person alone rushes for 152 yards.
Yardage doesnt mean anything if you do not score points. A team can give up all the yards in world but if they can stop people in the red zone then they have a chance. Belle Vernon should have been up 16-0 at halftime, and also were driving when they an interception was returned for TD so BVA is definitely capable of beating Ringgold.
Ringgold got a TD called back. And took a knee when they had the ball on the 20.. coulda been 47-13.. and i was using yardage to prove that bva was not taking it to ringgold.. and COULDA.. you wanna talk coulda, Ringgold vs. TJ. ringgold missed a field goal and didnt capitalize in the red first and shanked a punt in the first half.. that game could have easily been ringgold up 17-6 at half; however does that mean ringgold would have won? No. remember, footballs a game of two halves
BVA is not capable of beating Ringgold. All of Belle Vernon's scoring drives in the first half were on a short field. (20 yardline) And all BVA could muster was 2 field goals. Whomever calls the plays for BVA should not do that anymore, because when they were on they two yard line, they did a toss to the out side. WHAT COACH IN THEIR RIGHT MIND TOSSES OUTSIDE WITH TWO YARDS TO GO. Even if BVA took a 16-0 halftime lead, Ringgold would have still won 33-23. If Ringgold would have put two halves together, it would have been a rout of epic proportions. (FROM THE COMPUTER AT WORK: R. KEITH TAYLOR)
lets talk about avella for a second. First of all, i am extremely impressed by that team and their drive and determination week in and week out. They have every reason in the world to throw in the towel but they continue to show up, continue to practice, continue to play.
That being said, i guess there is no easy way to bring up what I'm about to say. For their own safety, i think they should forfeit the Clairton game coming up this week. I was at the Burgettstown game this past week and those kids from Clairton hit hard. I am honestly afraid that the Clairton/Avella game could be over on the opening kick-off after some of those kids get hit. Not to mention, i honestly dont think Avella has anyone on their team that can stop or tackle anyone on Clairton's team.
I know i've probably made some people upset with this post. I am honestly just looking out for the eagles. I wouldnt look at avella any differently if they bowed out of this one. I really dont know how they would be able to finish this game
The point of the first post is that Ringgold is the better team - period. Just because BVA was up 6-0; or even if it were more than that, Ringgold is still the better team. They could play 10 times and BVA would need something crazy to happen for them to win even once. Getting some breaks and playing well for a half doesn't mean anything. This is the same skewed logic that Ringgold fans are using for their 34 point loss to TJ. If the "WE PLAYED REALLY GOOD FOR A HALF" logic applies to their loss to TJ - then it should also apply to their win against BVA. Don't you think? By the way - you would be hard pressed to find a worse goal-line play call than BVA's HB toss 2-3 inches from the Ram's goal line ...YIKES! :0
i agree with the last post. just like tj did vs. ringgold and ringgold did vs. bva, the halftime adjustments were made and eventually the cream rises to the top... tj put up 28 points in the second half against ringgold and ringgold put up 33 in the second half against bva.. im sorry, but that just proves that there is no fluke in those two games
Why would Avella ever consider "bowing out" of the upcoming game? Their whole season has been based on their "never quit" attitude. If they were to forfeit the game against Clairton that would go against everything every player on that team believes in. Yes, i believe its going to be a painful loss, but what loss hasn't been painful thus far?
jd, i kind of thought that would be the reaction i would get for posting that. I am looking at it from a saftey standpoint. Im sorry but those kids are going to get hurt playing against Clairton. Its one thing to be proud, its another to be smart. You are going to basically have the same 11 kids playing all three ways (o,d,special) against the bears. Its going to be ugly. I truly fear for the safety of those kids from avella. Im not sure if you have seen a clairton game this year, but from what i saw this past week i dont know how avella is going to be able to complete a game against them.
Im just saying, if they did decide to forfeit this one i wouldnt blame them.
Clairton wouldn't want Avella to forfeit. It's about pride, right? Then you have your answer. I'm sure the Clairton starters will rest most of the game. Their coaches also know the meaning of pride. Continued success on and off the field for both of these teams.
I have Avella pulling off the upset. You heard is here first.
Avella 27 Clairton 25
I don't really think Clairton is going to be out for blood in this game. If I'm a coach I would look at it as almost a bye week. It is a game they know they won't have any trouble with. They can play their starters for a series or two; sit them out and keep them healthy for more important games down the road. What coach would want their star players hurt on a silly play against a team they don't even have to be out there for? I think we will see 2nd and 3rd strings for the majority of the game.
i'd say more like 5th and 6th stringers...
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